A rendering shows a three-story, 50-unit apartment building that would be part of Metropolitan Homes' project at 195 S. Monaco Parkway, near CrestmoorPark. A rezoning request is under consideration by the Denver City Council on June 8, 2015.

DENVER, CO - JUNE 08: President of Crestmoor Park Homes Second Filing Homes Association John A. Sadwith speaks during a city council meeting to discuss a proposed rezoning of a church property to make room for an apartment complex near Crestmoor Park.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Denver District Court by attorney Greg Kerwin, makes several claims. The chief argument is that council members strayed beyond their duty simply to judge whether Metropolitan Homes’ rezoning request for the former Mt. Gilead Church, 195 S. Monaco Parkway, satisfied city rules and guidelines.

The suit argues the rezoning was improper.

“In their deliberations following the presentation of testimony and evidence … the Council members demonstrated their lack of understanding of their quasi-judicial role,” the lawsuit says. “They explained their votes like politicians, not judges, relying on personal preferences and extraneous evidence like whose arguments annoyed them more.”

Among the comments cited by the lawsuit was a much-noticed remark in favor of rezoning from Councilman Chris Nevitt: “I cannot stand idly by and allow the cognitive dissonance of abhorring sprawl but refusing to do anything about it.”

Other allegations focus on campaign contributions, a possible conflict of interest on the Planning Board and the inability of opponents to force a council supermajority threshold of 10 votes. That would have taken a protest petition with signatures from the owners of 20 percent of the land area within 200 feet of the site, but the proximity of significant city park land hindered that effort.

The lawsuit, filed by six homeowners and the owner of a day care center and preschool across the street, targets the developer, the council, the city’s planning department and the Planning Board.

City officials declined to comment Tuesday while they reviewed the lawsuit.

“Neighborhood enhancement has always been our goal,” said Peter Kudla, Metropolitan’s founder and CEO, adding that a demolition fence has gone up and design is underway. “We’re also very confident that the decision to rezone the property was appropriate, professional and legally justified.”

The zoning dispute was rooted in the church site’s location in a stable, quiet neighborhood of mostly single-family homes. Some residents worried the project would increase traffic and worsen parking and pedestrian safety.

On the east side of Monaco, though, apartments and denser developments have sprouted or are planned at the former Buckley Annex — a change in the urban fabric that city officials and Metropolitan cited in supporting the church rezoning.

One of the plaintiffs, Denise Sigon, owns a townhome facing the park on an adjacent property. Her mother lived in it until her recent death, and Sigon, who now lives in Tuscon, is deciding what to do with the townhome. She could put it up for sale, but the project worries her.

“We didn’t buy the place thinking that we were going to have this big monstrosity right behind us,” Sigon said. “I think it’s going to devalue the property, with rentals behind us and the traffic. … I just think all the city is seeing through these rezonings is dollar signs.”

Councilwoman Mary Beth Susman, who represents the area, sided with opponents last month and voted no, unsuccessfully urging most of her colleagues to do the same.

The other plaintiffs are Keith Whitelaw, John DeRungs, Katie McCrimmon, Laura Pitmon, and Alan and Rita Singer.

Among the lawsuit’s requests is a court judgment that city officials are mistaken in failing to consider rezoning requests’ likely impact on traffic and parking.

Jon Murray is The Denver Post's city hall reporter. His coverage focuses on Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, the workings of the City Council and city's government interactions with Denver's people, from neighborhood issues to regulation of the marijuana industry. A Colorado native, he joined The Denver Post in 2014 after reporting on city government and the legal system for The Indianapolis Star.

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